Why is iOS battery life so consistent compared to android?

[Septembersrain]

While I've had some inconsistencies with my iOS devices they are definitely less frequent, and dramatic, as the ones on my Android devices.

My reasoning is that iOS runs all apps in a more native walled garden way. Android does not. So there is a higher probability of apps and services going rouge on Android. I imagine a jailbroken iOS device might show the same inconsistencies.

 

[cbreze]

I like both platforms about equally as they each bring some good things to my table. I don't overload any phone and so I find they all work smoothly. My only complaint with android is battery life is not great and sometimes can't get thru a day. iPhone 7 has smaller battery and goes all day and beyond. Maybe one more gripe is size. The 4.7" iPhone is my sweet spot for size and android flagships that will work on Verizon are just not that compact. The pixel is closest at 5" but that's screen size. Include the rather large bezels and it's much bigger than I'd pay for. Big phones seem to be the thing these days. And of course with Verizon choices are further limited for anything smaller.

 

[avtella]

I think one of the reasons Google is trying to take more control like Apple is some OEMs put so much bloat that no matter how big the battery is, SOT is terrible on some models. The Xperia Z3 and LG G2 were true gems at the time of their release, they could get 7-8 and 5-6 hours SoT respectively so it's very OEM and model dependent. But yeah most models don't offer much in terms of battery life in general. I get around 4-4.5 hrs SOT on my Nexus 5X but for ~$300 it's not much to complain about I guess vs the 7-8 hrs on the 7+.

 

[Stevessvt]

Too many variations in the Android world to be consistent. With so many SOC models, screen size and screen technologies, how much they've screwed with the skin,..etc,....

 

[bufffilm]

And of course with Verizon choices are further limited for anything smaller.

I see this also with Verizon and I wish it were better.

I prefer smaller phones and already, the CDMA phones choices are less to pick from, even before the screen size is considered.

 

[avtella]

I see this also with Verizon and I wish it were better.

I prefer smaller phones and already, the CDMA phones choices are less to pick from, even before the screen size is considered.

Maybe that issue will be solved as I hear Verizon is moving most of its CDMA spectrum to LTE by 2019. Unless it's only 2G CDMA then that sucks I guess...

 

[cbreze]

Maybe that issue will be solved as I hear Verizon is moving most of its CDMA spectrum to LTE by 2019. Unless it's only 2G CDMA then that sucks I guess...

Was hoping it would be solved when they moved to greater LTE coverage, but alas they have very few unlocked devices that will work on their network. I think more manufacturers would provide the proper radios in their phones if the cellular providers like Verizon would sell or at least allow their phones.
Look at the Pixel, native to Verizon but works on any network but then you get the likes of AT&T who won't allow the wifi calling to work on their network probably just because it's not their phone and they got their panties in a bunch over that.

 

[daijholt]

It's not that Android sucks. Android is a really good OS. I love the amount of features and options that I could change. I loved personalizing my phone and showing people cool changes I made to my phone. I could download free apps from the internet and download hundreds of movies for free. The phone was very smooth and fast. It's just that it glitches out at times and has random bugs that warranted my switch. I could pick up an android phone if my iPhone runs out 5 years later but in short android doesn't suck it just has some issues at times.

You've answered your own question here. It's because you can download whatever you want, whenever you want; there's zero quality control for anything you install because it has to work on millions of hugely different devices. This also applies to play store apps too, because the same rules apply, even if theyre a little more reliable than random internet apk files, they still need to work on everything.

As good as android is, it has no control over its ecosystem and anything can run rampant. iOS is built for a specific set of devices, with specific hardware, and apps are QC'd by apple before being released, so very few ever actually cause major problems.

 

[JackieInCo]

I have several Android phones including three S7 Edge phones, a Note 5, Note 4 and a Note Edge. Every single one of them have had the battery drainage problem and usually, it's because of some app that keeps running in the background. Usually if I remember to close all apps, I can avoid the problem but I don't always remember and I don't like doing that.

I only had an iPhone go completely dead on my once or twice and I think that was with the original or iPhone 3G, can't remember. I believe there was a bug in one of the early firmware versions where that could happen.

Now I have a 6S, 6S+ and a 5S that is still use. The 6S and 6S+ I use daily and all three of these phones have never had the battery drain super fast like what can happen with my Note 5 especially. That phone can go from 80% to 30% easily in two hrs with just 15 minutes screen time on 8 hrs standby.

 

[bhayes444]

I would imagine some of the battery issues the OP was experiencing on their Android device could be due to them pirating apps. Downloading apps from websites increases the risk for malicious code to added onto the app. At the very least the Play Store does some security checks on apps before publishing them.

 

[JackieInCo]

I would imagine some of the battery issues the OP was experiencing on their Android device could be due to them pirating apps. Downloading apps from websites increases the risk for malicious code to added onto the app. At the very least the Play Store does some security checks on apps before publishing them.

All my apps are from the play store and I had the same battery drainage problems as the OP on every Android phone I have ever had.

 

[mrex]

Cause Android sucks. Lol.

If you add all the functions android has, what would be the battery life of iPhone? or better... how stable the whole OS would feel? it is easy to say "android sucks" but what would the iOS be if you could do the same as you can do with android?

 

[borgsauce]

If you add all the functions android has, what would be the battery life of iPhone? or better... how stable the whole OS would feel? it is easy to say "android sucks" but what would the iOS be if you could do the same as you can do with android?

I come from a line of Nexus device the last one being Nexus 5X before switching to iPhone 7. I've used the Nexus without root and have installed the same apps on both the iOS and Android. I can tell you I still have inconsistencies in battery life with my Nexus device. I had to root the phone and use a 3rd party app in order to stop a lot of background processes that used up resources. It seems that even without root a lot of 3rd party apps on Android have greater freedom to use the resources in the background and that's what causes issues.